Chapter Two
The Sword In the Stone
Zelena and King Arthur impatiently pressed their new slave, Merlin, to get him to reveal where the Dark One's dagger was. Merlin, a tall, dark, clean-shaven man with youth preserved by magic, had the wisdom of hundreds of years of good deeds- and he could sense a change in the world ever since he brought them to the Dark One's vault. They stood outside the foreboding locked trap door, and brainstormed.
Merlin could sense where magical things and people were, if he focused, and he could even see pieces of the future. But at every command from those who held the sword to which he was ethereally tethered, he resisted as long as he could. Suddenly he noticed a blank look in his captors' eyes. They seemed bewildered. Merlin stepped toward Arthur eagerly as his grip on Excalibur loosened for a moment, and, with a breath of relief, Merlin sidestepped behind him and deftly snatched the sword from his grasp. He quickly took a certain magic-binding cuff from its hiding place in Arthur's armor.
"What- where am I? Who are you?" Arthur stammered. "Hey, I had that!"
"Patience, sir, I am just a travelling merchant, but I'll appraise this for you," Merlin said confidently, and unsheathed the sword slightly. "I can tell you this artifact here is worth a good 200 gold. The bracelet, Madame, completely worthless." Merlin nodded to Zelena as she noticed a leather bracelet on her wrist again- a shackle for her magic.
"Give that back!" Arthur ran after Merlin, who easily got ahead of him on the trail to Camelot and then, in a flash, used magic to transport himself up to a starlit room at the top of a tower. He fulfilled the last command they gave him, and located the Dark One and his dagger.
"I ought to thank you, Dark One," Merlin said, and Killian Jones lowered a dream catcher, slowly turning to see his visitor. "Though my soul is tethered, now I am free of the king and his insane sidekick."
"Thank me by not interrupting my work!" Killian said, shocked that anyone would find him here and know... "You know what I am? Somehow you're the only one. And soon... everyone will forget everything else too. I know now... I know how to destroy them all, take away who they are, not just the recent things they learned since we got to Camelot."
Merlin raised an eyebrow. Emma appeared to both of them, crouching on a window ledge like a gargoyle. In her low, unemotional voice, she pleaded, "Now that's going too far. Don't erase ALL of my family's memories. I know, they don't trust you, but- you needn't take away their good memories of us. Just-"
Killian, engrossed in getting down all the dream catchers, said to himself, "It's better this way. Everyone here has to forget that there ever was a Dark One. They must not go looking for the Dark One. Especially if they fancy themselves heroes, they must not know there is an evil to defeat..."
Merlin interrupted, "It doesn't have to be this way. There is more important work that calls you, Dark One. You can still have this lifted from you, be the hero that rids the realms of darkness, and then there's no reason to hide anything."
Killian paused. With that, Merlin transported them both to the hill overlooking the Caledonian forest, where the altar of the original fire still stood. Moonrise allowed Killian to see Merlin jump atop a nearby boulder and thrust his half of Excalibur down into the rock, where it would stay so no one could control him. "Someday you may decide to fuse the two blades for good, not evil," Merlin told him, and gestured for him to go on inspecting the altar. A small fire pit was atop the stone platform- no fire had been there for centuries.
"How?" Killian wondered. "Where is the flame that Emma ignited from the last ember from this fire pit- and wasn't that the original fire, the first fire ever given to man, by a god? How am I to-"
A hooded figure approached with long, confident strides. "That flame- that was quite impressive," she said. "It went with Emma into the darkness when she died. I have it now. If a Dark One is to hold that ember again- you'll have to go through me." The vision of a shadowy figure threw back her hood, allowing Merlin and Killian to see her mean, blue-green, scaly visage.
"Nimue," Merlin nodded respectfully. It was she who had once drank from the same Holy Grail as he, had been blessed with the same magical powers and immortality as he, and then chose to use her magic to murder, becoming the first Dark One. Merlin watched her circle the altar, following Killian, and could scarcely picture her as the young woman he had once known and loved.
When he had met Nimue, he tried to help her get over the decimation of her village by a bloodthirsty villain. He proposed to her with the hopes that they could live normal, mortal lives together, start a family- and grow old together, naturally, not outlive their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had melted the Grail into Excalibur for them. For them to age gracefully. For her smooth hands to roughen with years of tending flowerbeds ahead. For the smell of her hair, and the earth in the creases in her hands after weeding. For them to learn to take care of each other.
Now Nimue, his betrothed, was stalking the new Dark One, looking him up and down. The wan, weary vision of Emma appeared atop the altar, sitting on her legs, looking on.
"Do you really want to be rid of your darkness?" Nimue mused, suddenly right behind Killian, speaking into his ear. "Do you really believe in a future without Emma, without even the Dark Vision of Emma, and without the stay on your aging that you maintained for so long? Without immortality? A future -for you to finally grow old and die, like everyone else, and die alone?"
Killian looked up at his love's sad face, desperately. What could he say? What future did she want him to plan on?
"No… you don't…believe..." Nimue whispered, as Killian stared at Emma's silent ghost with old, tired, wary eyes. Cutting off his immortal ties, with the sword, reunited, would kill him. Whether by opening his flesh wound - or by leaving him to old age. Nimue reached out a scaly finger, and traced the line of the would-be scar on his neck. "You shouldn't have stuck your neck out for her, pirate. Now you'll likely die, without Dark One magic… and do you really think you'll go to the same place as her, when you die?"
"I am far from… ready to leave the darkness behind," he admitted in a small voice.
Nimue then leapt towards Merlin, grabbed his throat, and lifted him up—when Killian looked closely at the hands 'round his throat—he saw they were his hands!
Emma jumped down from the altar, grabbed Killian's outstretched arms and broke the hold. She threw a punch that separated Nimue from Killian and then swung her leather booted foot low, knocking Nimue to the ground. Killian felt the urge to tackle Merlin just as Nimue shot up and tackled Emma, her robe flying up behind her. But the new Dark One stopped himself, just inches from the great sorcerer.
"You can do this!" Merlin said, gasping. "Resist her, pass the test, and you'll be able to finish what Emma was trying to accomplish before she died. Finish the last, greatest work of her life."
"Her work was… bringing back the happy endings," Killian mumbled as he struggled to recall their comparatively idyllic life in Storybrooke.
Merlin insisted, "Greater even than that- her work was to extinguish the Dark One magic!"
"Not in this lifetime!" Nimue laughed as she picked Emma up by the neck and the knee, then threw her down. Killian felt the force of his own body throwing Merlin's, in a mirror move. Nimue cruelly body slammed Emma, then rolled atop her. She went on, "Not in Killian Jones' lifetime either. The world isn't ready to lose dark magic! And neither is he." Nimue held Emma's arms behind her back and yanked her up so she could see her boyfriend holding Merlin's arms the same way.
At once, Merlin and Emma ducked and used the momentum of their attackers to flip them over their backs. Killian and Nimue slid down the hillside a bit before these two sorcerers hanging onto darkness sped up towards the two striving for light. Plowing into Merlin, Killian lost control and wailed on him with a hundred punches on each side. It had been so long- since he could do this, with both hands! He looked over at Nimue, aghast to see her beating Emma in just the same way! But Killian couldn't tell if he was causing this, and he couldn't stop!
How was she able to keep striking Emma, who had beaten her, up on this hill, just a couple days before? He saw Nimue thrust her open hand down into Emma's chest, using magic to reach in and grasp her heart. Then he felt his own right hand warmed by Merlin's chest cavity, with shock and horror- his fingers grasped a slippery organ that convulsed in terror. He held a rapidly beating heart! He was overwhelmed by the power he had! It was such a rush, compared to the times he had stolen hearts with his metal hook.
"Take it, and you'll never have to put up with him telling you what to do," Nimue said forcefully, invigorated by what she saw. She could not yank a heart from Emma's spirit, but she could watch her new host crush the heart of her long ago lover. He had been weak. A coward. Unwilling to defend her when her enemy, Vortigan, had attacked. Unwilling to let her embrace magic and immortality, too. He deserved everything he got.
Killian stood and ripped the living heart out, staring at it in amazement. "Magic… is power," he said to himself softly.
Emma pushed Nimue off of her, got up painfully and pleaded with him. "Merlin… is right," she said weakly. "You can still… make my death… not in vain." She leaned against him, exhausted. "Just believe- our future together could be-taking all the Dark One magic with us, in death… Or, we could go on as we are now… I will love you either way." Emma let out a pained sigh as she collapsed into Killian, trying to hug him. His look softened, so touched. When he was a double-crossing, murdering pirate, she had loved him-and when he was trying to fit in with her family and friends and second-guessing his every action in order to be heroic like them, she had loved him. He supported her beaten figure leaned up against him.
"Ah, love, I think that taking the darkness with us to our deaths, well that can wait a bit, don't you think?" He sensed the use of magic somewhere and looked down the hillside. Emma nodded, affirming that was what the sensation meant. "We might have a funeral to attend." And with that, he handed Merlin's heart to Emma, wrapped his arms around her, and a cloud of smoke wrapped around them both. They transported away, leaving Nimue to muse over a disheartened Merlin.
Killian and Emma found themselves at a dim, somber scene outside Granny's, where the morning fog was rolling in between the trees of the forest. Snow White, Prince Charming, Regina the Queen, Robin Hood, Henry and Roland were gathered around a platform, crying. The Seven Dwarves and Granny, holding little baby Neal, stood back from it a bit. The diner in the woods glowed with lantern lights, and someone inside opened the windows so a tune playing on the jukebox could be heard: "O Danny Boy."
Everyone was just at a loss for words, wondering what to do with themselves, not knowing how to prepare for a funeral at dawn. With the help of magic Emma's body had been laid nicely in a large, dark wood coffin on the platform, that had a pattern of leaves and branches with tear-shaped gaps carved into it. The pattern, reminiscent of Snow White's glass coffin, extended into the lattice that arced over the body. Enough of her was visible through the gaps in the lattice that it was an open casket. Her stiff woolen gray robe had been cleaned and straightened. It covered her fatal wound, and her long soft blonde hair closely framed her face.
Killian looked on from back in the shadows, his hands dug into his jacket pockets. "Why, how, how did this happen?" he heard the expatriates from Storybrooke say, again and again.
"We were following King Arthur to Camelot, we were walking with Emma, then -we're back here, and she's in- a coffin!" Emma's parents repeated to each other, unable to retrace their steps.
"Someone killed her and took our memories of it," Regina was repeating to herself, through angry tears.
A subdued maiden in a long, patterned cape, Belle, came out of the diner with a tray of oatmeal and hot chocolate for Henry and Roland. "Now boys, sit down and we'll have an early breakfast. Let's go over everything we remember. That way we can help your parents to- uh-"
Henry jumped in, "Get the bad guys, who may have hurt Emma." Anger flashed in his eyes.
"One way to help Emma, Roland- I'll show you how, later-is to make her spot real pretty, we can make her some daisy rings…" Belle picked some nearby daisies and clover and started braiding them into a ring, to distract the boys who had little interest in eating.
Arthur and Zelena, who had been following the noises heard in the woods for hours, came up to the clearing as dawn broke. "What happened? Last I saw you lot you were dressed in the garb of another land. Now everyone's-Why is your friend-?" he asked.
"There is a murderer running loose!" Regina informed him sharply. "Someone with magic to match our friend, Emma's- killed her and laid her there in the time it took us to change into Camelot casual and forget… again!" she growled as she leaned in towards her sister.
Zelena shook her head and said nothing. She showed Regina that she wore the cuff to bind her magic with- and her and Arthur's confusion was real. Their shock at seeing the body was sincere.
Everyone was pacing, lost in the gaps in their thoughts, as Snow White cleared her throat to bring the assembly to attention. "My daughter, our savior, has gone from this world," she began, taking a deep breath, meaning to go on about honoring her life and having hope. Instead, a guttural battle cry came out: "And her killer will pay!"
The crowd stirred and the seven dwarves shouted their agreement.
"What shall we do, love?" Killian nervously whispered to his vision of Emma. "We could… make Merlin pose as the culprit."
She held up the heart, balanced it on her cold, bony fingertips. "For you to live among others… we would need someone to blame… but we can't do that forever. He's too smart, and strong a sorcerer, for either of us. Sooner or later he would find a way to get this back. The lies...would be undone..." Normally Emma abhorred lying, but now that her beloved had come so close to death-now that she was responsible for what he'd become- protecting him was what she cared about.
They backed up from the small funeral service, and stole away into the empty diner from Storybrooke, Maine.
Inside, the jukebox loudly played a tinny record of Andres Segovia's Green Sleeves, and the vision of Rumpelstiltskin cackled in the corner. His laughs echoed about, as he transported here and there- Killian chased and lunged at the apparitions of Rumpelstiltskin fruitlessly.
"It seems you've come here for a different solution, dearie," came his voice from the kitchen, where he stood over a bubbling booya pot. "You don't really believe in ending the cycle of Dark Ones-all by ye self? And...neither… do you believe in controlling the light-" Rumpelstiltskin gestured and the glowing red heart of the greatest wielder of light magic flew from Emma's hands to his.
Killian neared the pot, which smelled of something foul and inedible. "Aye," he said." There's really only one Dark One I want to END- you! But-your body's back in the Land Without Magic."
The vision of his enemy went on, "So how about going in a different direction-towards a fresh start?"
Emma cocked her head to the side, considering. "We could have a fresh start back in Storybrooke- where no one would be able to find my body... Or Merlin's," she said darkly.
"What? What're ya saying?" Killian asked.
"I'm saying we should go back there, and make a home of that cute house you picked out in the paper. It's just. . There's not that many ways back to Storybrooke. One way, for example, a Dark Curse, does require someone's death..."
"Goody. It so happens I killed the thing I loved most, last night. Thanks for that, Emma."
Killian heard another voice- another vision had joined them. "Ah, but this Curse that could take you and everyone here anywhere you want to go- it will need a fresh sacrifice." Nimue was there, stirring the pot. "The thing I love most- even after all these years- he's a handy sacrifice, I'm glad I kept him around. And through you, Hook- I can finally crush his heart, and make that sacrifice. We Dark Ones act as one." She held Merlin's heart all of a sudden, and whispered to it a farewell.
Emma stared at the floor, feeling guilty that it had come to this. Merlin had valuable lessons and warnings for her-had ever since he'd appeared to her as a vision, when she was a child. But now she could only pass these lessons and warnings on to Killian, and guide Killian as Merlin would. That's how she could honor him.