Chapter Fourteen
Last Day on Earth
Rumpelstiltskin shivered suddenly. He took a moment to listen within- his renewed heart was beating fast, and the whispers of a jumble of voices- gone! For the first time since he was a mortal man, without the dagger, the voices were really gone!
He was helping Belle lock up the library when he came to this realization.
"Rumpel, what's wrong?" she asked.
"Something's changed with the Dark One…" he looked off down the street, pained.
"What does that mean? Does it have to do with Merlin and the original Dark One?"
"No, sweetheart, I told you, I told the others, I don't have all the Dark Ones' memories anymore…" He leaned heavily on his cane as they walked to their car. "I have enough derived magic here to work a protection spell -and protect us, in this car, that's all!" Rumpelstiltskin showed her a metal snuffbox that appeared to be empty. "We need to draw the spell around us with this invisible chalk, and then get in the car! And hurry, Belle!" He snapped the chalk and handed her half- it would be a struggle for him to crouch down on the street and draw the entire circle himself.
A mob of silent hooded figures was filling quiet Main Street. Belle screamed as two short, seemingly faceless people started running towards them.
Rumpelstiltskin knew she wanted him to explain, and protect her- he wasn't sure he could, as his back gave out while he bent to draw invisible chalk on the pavement. "I don't know if this will work- but let's hurry!" Rumpelstiltskin and Belle Gold's bits of chalk met as they came around the car and completed their circle -but it was too late. They didn't move inside it in time- the mysterious men in black robes were upon them, running as though to barrel right through the two of them- slanted yellow eyes shining!
Rumpelstiltskin covered his love the best he could, with an awkward hug, but the former Dark Ones come to life slammed into the two of them- and instead of knocking them over, they passed right through the Golds! They flinched -fear, fear as cold and encompassing as a tidal wave, chilled their bones.
Lancelot had hurried to meet with old friends this evening, because the strange weather and the electricity going off and on across the town were signs that the Dark One was on the move. After Maleficent had activated his missing memories, Lancelot knew he had to update Snow and Charming on his failed mission to get insight from his mother. He quickly gave Snow White and Prince Charming a blessing over their baby at a short baptism in the sink at the Sheriff's Office, agreeing to be Neal's godfather, should some of them not survive the impending crisis. Then they got down to business.
"When we last spoke- I thought I could help you to counter Arthur and relieve the Dark One! My mother had… experience with the Dark One," Lancelot explained. "She was the Lady of the Lake… and honestly, I shed no tears when I heard she died…"
Charming looked down, unsure how to feel about having killed her. Lancelot never mentioned this before.
"Though Lake Nostros dried up, I could still sense her… spirit… in other lakes," Lancelot went on. "And since she was someone who had ardently tried to become a Dark One… I thought I could gain some insight from her spirit, by living in a lake!"
The pensive knight was interrupted by telephones ringing- dispatch call after dispatch call was coming in, and the Charmings couldn't keep up with all the sightings of masked and hooded threatening strangers.
Snow called her stepmother's cell, panicking. "Regina! You need to hide that baby! People are coming for-" Snow lost all words, at the sight of a centaur draped in black, galloping up to the office window. His human arms started breaking glass so he could climb in- Neal screamed and cried- Charming's gun blasts did not stop him.
"If these are but extensions of the Dark One," Lancelot shouted above the clamor, "then maybe I can shield you! The Dark One should recognize me as the son of the Lady of the Lake, an opponent he respected!" He shifted his shape, from a tall, built man to a zigzag of smoke and scales, extending his body and tail to surround his friends.
Charming stuttered, "Lancelot, you're a-you're a-"
Lancelot started, as he felt an intruder from the window- and from the door- pushing past him- his transformation was too late- he could not shelter the little family! The hooded centaur and a swift black-clad hunchback came through from opposite directions and charged Snow and Charming- passing right through each of them, then taking off down the hall.
Snow shuddered in terror. "We're… alright, Neal's alright…" she tried to assure herself. But her inner wrist burned with bumps. The darkness had come, and left an image of an insect seared on her wrist and Charming's- but not Neal's.
The growing dragon, winding and floating about the office, looked down at his human friends- he thought of Guinevere. He zipped out the broken windows back to the Sorcerer's Mansion to do what he could for her.
Across town, at Storybrooke Hospital, Henry was scrubbing his hands so he could meet and try to hold his aunt's new baby.
Today he had only learned that Nimue fought Merlin once, imprisoned him in the form of a tree, and was only stopped by someone else who later seized the Dark One power. The driving force of almost all Dark Ones was to snuff out the light- that could mean light magic or just the light of hope and love in people. Right now, it seemed to mean that the literal light from the sky was gone!
He joined his mother, the queen, who made him feel safe. She and her boyfriend were ushering his aunt Zelena and her baby down the hall, on their wheeled hospital bed. "What now?" he asked.
"We've got to hide, someone is coming! Hit the elevator- down!" His mother ordered.
"This won't be fast enough!" Robin said in frustration. "Let Zelena magic us away from here!" Four people in all black, with hoods hiding their faces, burst through the maternity ward doors, running at them.
"No-no, we can't trust her!" Regina took a wide stance between Henry and the strangers. Henry saw that her hands-beneath the muff, they were shackled!
Robin swiftly pried the magic-binding cuff from Zelena's wrist-at least he could do something about this handicap. "Get us out of here!"
Zelena waved her sore wrist and caused a spiral of green smoke to heal her from the swift labor, then carry her and the child away to parts unknown.
Her outraged younger sister whirled around to face Robin. "How could you? There goes your daughter!" She gasped, as the force of a Dark One walking right through her made her freeze- she saw a different Dark One pass through her boyfriend, like a ghost.
Henry felt the force of a great evil entering his body, grabbing his wrist. A woman with ruddy blue-green complexion, menacing, yellowed eyes, and wide lips was suddenly stepping into him, holding his right side and burning something into his right forearm with magic.
She whispered to him, "You. You were prophesied to be Rumpelstiltskin's undoing. Shame you never got around to ending that old man so he could join the dead Dark One parade. You wanted to know all about me? Well, here I am."
"Nimue?" Henry eked.
She nodded. "What you can't figure out is why I was able to drink from the same Holy Grail as Merlin... You see, I am worthy of magic. That's what that means."
Henry struggled to separate from her -he couldn't.
"Power for power's sake... it must be a worthy endeavor. That's why the grail let me live and gave me magic. That's what you'll spend eternity trying to figure out. " Nimue shook him as she walked right through, and Henry passed out.
"Grab your mortal while you can, Emma. All the other Dark Ones are doing it. They're seizing their place in this world."
"No thanks."
Killian Jones the pirate captain and Emma Swan the dark sorceress walked leisurely along the road, pulled towards holding each other's hands- but holding back. Killian admired her healthy glowing skin, her tall and thin figure in that tight black dress and open robe, her long dark lashes batting slowly as she looked around, took it all in. Why wouldn't she want to stay like this?
"Let me… flesh out the deal," he said. "Mark someone… someone who you had spread your light to, when you were the Savior. When the ferry returns, they'll be on it and you get to live out the rest of your years!"
"Not interested in deals. I don't think you are either," Emma said. "But speaking of fleshing things out…" She looked at his hands and gave him a knowing smirk.
Killian enchanted his regenerated hand so it appeared as a hook again. "Better?"
Emma smiled and held his hook as they walked to their house, the place waiting to be made a home. "I'm just interested in making the most of this day with you."
In a flash, they were in their master suite, filling the Jacuzzi tub. Emma wanted to really feel, really see, smell and taste life again. She wanted his lips on her neck as she washed off the stale numbness of her afterlife.
"Aren't you… going to try to save everyone?" Killian asked, as he kept his hand to himself with a tremendous effort.
"In life I was… roped into being responsible for everyone. Too many times. I wish I could save you, if anyone… but I can't."
Killian nodded seriously. She understood. His sexy, demure, practical, insightful Emma was back.
As the town filled with fearful marked mortals who hid indoors in the raging storm, Hook and Swan got reacquainted.
As Snow, Charming, Henry, Archie Hopper, Granny, Regina, Robin, and the Golds met to agonize over their new raised scars and what they meant, the latest Dark Ones drank rum in fancy glasses and whetted their thirst for each other.
Just as the mayors spread the word to every neighbor that Henry's findings would be shared at Town Hall in the morning, Emma and Killian threw on clothes to answer the door. An unexpected, hollow-eyed houseguest- Arthur was seeking amnesty. He had been hiding and running from Merida, an old enemy who hunted him, in a land where he was already persecuted. The Dark One had taken everything from him. Killian figured the least he could do was invite the poor man in for strong drinks and a game of strip poker. Arthur lost in just a few hands, but stuck around to be of further service to the Dark Ones as they explored each other.
He bowed and bent and stretched, licked and swallowed, exhilarated by moves he found more gratifying than—the few times he had cheated on Guin, confused outbursts he'd tried to bury in his memories. Those times had been rushed, not as thorough and intentional as this night lengthened by the Dark One's stamina. The situation was so wrong, but it felt so right, for once.
When the storm finally moved on, Snow and Regina gathered everyone at Storybrooke Town Hall. Regina's shackles had disappeared after her encounter with the Dark One- seeming to affirm that there was nothing she or her magic could do about the marks.
Many showed their strange scars. Snow White, David, Henry, Robin, Regina, Archie Hopper, Mr. and Mrs. Gold, the dwarves, Anton the giant, Granny, Pinocchio, Cinderella and her Prince Thomas, Princess Aurora, and Maleficent. Many more were there, concerned. The marks showing elongated body, two wings and two legs on each side were compared and studied. The designs on their wrists and forearms were all the same, and reminded people of monsters that fly, harbingers of death- the Furies.
Meanwhile, twenty-one Dark Ones ambled through streets, alleys and city parks. They tagged the wishing well and plaque with spray paint, hung wreaths of dead small game on the Welcome to Storybrooke and Welcome to East Storybrooke signs, and cooked themselves early breakfasts over trash can fires on street corners. They chased the Merry Men out of the woods and set up booby traps along walking paths. The Dark Ones threw back their hoods and shouted out exuberant battle cries, for their reign was beginning. If any marked mortal tried to escape, then a Fury would chase them to the ends of the earth.
Back at Killian and Emma's house by the sea, the two woke lazily for some morbid pillow talk. Excalibur glistened on the mantle, opposite their bed. Killian confessed that he didn't know if he had wanted to kill her or make love to her when he saw her last night... but not even Excalibur could kill her on this day of the dead, for she was already dead. He wondered why she wanted to be close to him instead of run to her family to say goodbyes.
"You! You already helped me have my long goodbyes. You helped me look in on my family, after my death," Emma said. "Now I just want…" she nuzzled his neck and chest. Her sleeves of golden scales and long, tender touching fingers caressed his muscles and hair, that gave way to growing scaly spots, spiky spots, hooks and barbs beginning to protrude from his shoulders and back.
"Is this just a way for you, uh... to get close to me, make me vulnerable, and give me the mark of Charon?"
"No, I know that won't work. I know what you're trying to do, too. You're trying to send everyone I care about... and everyone they care about... to the afterlife, so you don't have the responsibility of looking after them for another 80 years or so. It was wrong of me to lay that responsibility on you. It was wrong... for me to expect you to be the Dark One and be the prophesied Dark One who could wield the power for good, in my stead..."
Killian was touched. He could almost forgive her. "Now that you're back, Light Dark One… don't you want to warn people, try to save your family with your light magic, at least?"
Emma gazed out the window, acknowledging that she wished she could. "No, my magic -whether light or dark- it comes with a price. I am done creating costs like that."
Killian held her up above him to examine her beauty-and her intentions. Had she really given up?
"If they must go to the afterlife, at least I'll be with them," she said, surprisingly calm. "But Killian… you could still do something to save them."
"Oh, Emma…" Killian brought her down to lay atop him and held her tight. "Why can't we just be together?"
Arthur was stirring; he had fallen asleep strewn across the foot of their king size bed, rubbing their feet as they were entangled.
"And what should we do with him?" Killian mused.
"He doesn't want to serve us. He wants to toy with us, and control us," she said. "We should let Merida have him."
With that, Arthur sprung awake, and jumped up to grab Excalibur from the mantle. It was now or never- he had nothing to lose. He lost sensation in his hands as soon as he touched it- terrified, he stepped back, and watched the outer layer of skin on his hands turn to ash and fall. "No!" he cried.
"Looks like you aren't meant to claim that sword," Killian said. "Aren't you glad to finally know?" He nudged his radiantly naked girlfriend. "There may still be a use for him."
"There's nothing we can do," Rumpelstiltskin said for the fourth time. The assembly was starting to believe him, and disperse. "The dead have marked us, to take their places. It's old, old, magic, one life for one life. All that's left is to write your wills and enjoy this one day."
"I can recommend a good lawyer to polish up those wills," Belle said, with a smirk at her husband. Her gallows humor was ignored.
"At least there's hope for Neal…" Snow White said softly. She and the other parents organized a carpool from town hall to the abbey, to go ask the nuns to raise the children they would leave behind. They had to get between safe places quickly, while avoiding the havoc of the Dark Ones.
The parents and their children left- all but Robin. Robin got Regina's help with a locator spell on Zelena's necklace- he headed to the woods, his jaw set with anger. "Goddamn, Zelena, why couldn't you answer the raven we sent?" he muttered to himself. She couldn't have gone far due to the Curse that kept them all trapped in the two little towns, but knowing her, she may have allowed herself and the baby to transform into a tree and a short green sprout! She would do fanatical things to protect herself and her child- and to keep any other influence away. Robin followed the pull of the necklace's enchantment, thinking gravely, I'll be damned if I don't get to see my daughter on the last day I live.
Mr. Gold stopped Henry as he was about to leave. "Listen. You'll figure this out anyway." He held his grandson's elbow and leaned close, looking down at the heavy book of Greek myth that Henry had in the crook of his arm. "You know about Charon, you've heard of Nimue. But before you go approaching Nimue on your own…"
Henry flushed at being called out on his secret plan. Mr. Gold widened his eyes and nodded- Henry predictably had his parents' penchant for vigilantism. "Her motive… is just to blot out all light. I don't know much else...about her... because I ignored her. I had my own plans, as the Dark One."
"Finding my dad? I know," Henry said.
"She was just a person once, too," Mr Gold said. "With more than murder and revenge in her past. A person, who must have loved… must have lost… must have regretted…" Mr. Gold let go of the young man, patted him on the back and looked off into the distance. His shy wife joined them, unsure how to be supportive of these moments between grandfather and grandson.
"Ok… You don't seem too bummed out," Henry commented to Belle.
"We may be facing an impossible situation, even death- but at least we face it together," she said, and hooked her and Rumpelstiltskin's arms.
One of Rumpelstiltskin's former students had been lingering behind, eavesdropping. Maleficent got an idea from the old man's useless pointers. "If Nimue regrets something- it's something from her time. From the time that Merlin knew her…" she reasoned aloud. "Maybe if she's confronted with Merlin's spirit, it will remind her… and soften her approach…"
Henry was about to catch up with his mother and Roland, but was intrigued by what he heard. "What's your idea? Can I help?"
Maleficent was shocked to have the young man come up to her. "Oh- uh, no, Henry, stay safe, stay by your family." She self-consciously rubbed the mark on her forearm. "I have to go… as I am the one with no light in my soul, for her to prey on!" With that low remark, Maleficent rushed outside & took to the skies, soaring on dragon wings to find Archimedes.
At the time, the old owl was up and about, watching the town hall through a window.
Archimedes was too aware, lately, of winds of changes in the world, to sleep during the day. This day was just as dark as night- days might all be this way, now.
He watched Guinevere and Lancelot walk the streets, slowly, despondently. Holding hands. Looking the hoodlums in the face as they jeered and catcalled.
On a tree's low branch, Archimedes caught their eyes, and pointed his beak in the direction of the grandiose stone abbey. The two walked despite everyone's warnings to drive, testing Lancelot's theory that the Dark Ones would spare him. As they neared the abbey, Mother Superior rushed out to greet them. With the wind blowing fiercely in many a direction, it blew back her capelet and sleeves so that she seemed to have dark blue wings behind her as she ran down the steps. A smiling middle-aged Mother Superior looked over Guinevere's beautiful ensemble of modern dress and old world corset and jewelry from Camelot, amazed to see her here. She wore gold earrings passed down from her mother and a thin gold circlet on her head that intertwined with her long black hair, but her handsome arm candy Sir Lancelot was treasured the most.
No matter how much time passed or how much they changed, Guin figured he really was the same old Lance.
"Guinevere! Lancelot!" Mother Superior called out joyously.
"Do I know you?" Guin asked.
"Yes, child, you sought out the fairies long ago. Here we are!"
Lance grinned his wide, white grin, recognizing the woman's voice and demeanor. "Blue Fairy! It's you!"
Mother Superior hugged the man she hadn't seen since his youth. She took his hand-and one of Guin's hands, inspecting the black fingernail polish and the smooth, flawless palms. "You were not marked!" she exclaimed. "Thank heavens- come in and meet the other fairies!"
They hurriedly climbed the stairs to the church and nunnery.
"It seems that you will be left behind with us, after the marked depart tonight... We were in the middle of some very important research and perhaps you can help!"
"I have spent all day yesterday researching, amid all the histories of darkness…" Guin said, "and now if there is any help I can offer, let it be in the halls of the light!"
The wise fairy nodded and brought the two along a decorated hallway where dozens of alcoves were lit by reading lamps, and a uniformed woman sat in each, surrounded by books and scrolls and plates etched with history. The hallway echoed with the shuffling and tapping of nervous hands and feet and the murmurs of anxious voices, reading aloud softly. Mother Superior told them, "It is now more important than ever to know all about the Dark One - whether praying for him and, we hope, disarming him, can ever defeat him. There's only the hope that we maintain this stronghold of good, as the Dark Ones fight to take over everything else."
Guinevere shared all she could remember from the past day that was such a blur. A tumble of interconnected memories retrieved from the heroes' time in Camelot, visions of Merlin shared in a hurry, strange spell books that were the Dark One's own resource… Mother Superior had never heard of them before.
Guinevere whispered to the old fairy, "My husband will surely show up at Gentleman's park tonight. I don't know if he was marked, but I know he sought the unification of the Dark One dagger and Excalibur so long, to extinguish all dark magic- his whole life, he sought this! He wouldn't miss this chance to see the sword at work, no matter the danger."
Mother Superior pressed her hands to her heart. "Even as youths, I saw how you would struggle in your marriage... he has been a tortured man. There's still hope for him, for some good in him to surface, and if he shows up tonight to observe the incarnation of all the Dark Ones, using Excalibur... there's still a chance that he can use all his knowledge and do something to stop this."
The other fairies in the stone corridor looked up and nodded in agreement, many of them folding their hands to pray. Guinevere knew that King Arthur had once been very unselfish, defending her when the neighbor kids had cornered her and teased her for being foreign and different... Defending many a maiden in distress, in their travels, and rallying together his eleven knights who respected him for his ideals... There had been prosperous years of teamwork and respect, before his selfish pursuits for power… With the stakes this high, he could be unselfish again.
Guinevere smiled as she and Lance toured the secret library of light magic with the Blue Fairy. Here she felt warmth and belonging, here she could fight for the Light and live in community again.
"Mother Superior!" a young woman in uniform navy sweater, skirt and headscarf rushed forward to show a large diagram she found in a yellowed, oversized hardcover. "What-what is this? And what does it mean?"
Blue studied the strange circle in the esoteric book for a long while. A symmetrical curve or wave, and opposite circles- the yin yang.
"It is just theory, my child, old misguided theory written by an exiled fairy," she reassured the younger nun in their order.
Taking her friends from Camelot aside, Blue said, "If this book is correct, then dark and light magic, good and evil people, negative and positive things... are... locked together. Neither pure. Always mixed together at least a little- and hopefully, in balance.
"If this is to be believed," she said in confidence, "then we can never win. We can never completely overcome evil… it can never completely overtake us either."
"Perhaps it is just the way of the world," Guinevere offered. "Even if each Dark One were defeated, the Dark One's vault would still store up evil incarnate."
Blue looked up from the book slowly, her mind racing. "The Source… the Source still exists? The Dark One vault… still exists!"
"Yes?" Lancelot encouraged her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Blue wrung her hands and quietly reasoned, "If the first Dark Curse didn't obliterate the Source of Evil along with the Enchanted Forest, and the second Dark Curse didn't obliterate the Source along with the Enchanted Forest, and neither Curse obliterated Camelot… then maybe it can't be destroyed! This means that, maybe, the Source itself has kept its corner of the world going…"
"And hence, the need for balance?" Guinevere asked.
"Maybe this is our task," Lancelot said, catching Blue's eye. "To make sure that the good is always winning, even if it cannot completely win. I, for one, will cover and protect this stronghold, no matter what the Dark Ones throw at us."
Nimue relaxed as she let loose her chestnut hair and sat on her haunches atop the clock tower that overlooked Main Street. She balanced on her heels on its dark-shingled dome top and waved at an old man hurrying away from a gang of hooded Dark Ones, some short, some tall, all of them tipping over dumpsters and cars and shouting. Here at the center of Storybrooke, at the nexus of its magic, the original Dark One watched modern mortals struggle to accept the newcomers who would soon take over. Nimue looked forward to crushing any heroism that might arise in the people that would be left behind after tonight, and then hunting down her Dark successors one by one. They all thought they were worthy, those who had seized the power after her…. But they had only killed for it. They hadn't drunk from the grail of the gods for it, they hadn't been chosen for it...
The heavy gray sky above quaked with the wind of wings, almost knocking Nimue over. A black and purple scaled dragon and a beautiful barn owl flew in formation above, circling the clock tower and then perching on buildings opposite it. They had been catching air currents together, surveying the world just like Nimue.
The owl on the rooftop sign on the hardware store swiveled its head to stare at Nimue, its piercing gaze reaching her soul. It judged her, it pitied her, and in a way it respected her… The deep black eyes set in its feathery white face reminded the jaded, timeworn woman of someone who had seen through her defensive walls, who had accepted her and loved her, ages ago. The owl raised up its chin and looked at her levelly, seeming to tell her that she could do better than this. She had potential that could be nurtured, and her life could be so much more than horrible deeds done against other horrible people.
"Oh, Archimedes…" Nimue said sentimentally. He had survived all these years Merlin had, sustained by communion with the ageless wizard. Now that Merlin was gone… Nimue regretted that Archimedes could reach the end of his years. He seemed to challenge Nimue to do something good for herself, not just pursue power for power's own sake. But he still respected that pursuit, somewhat.
The dragon that rested atop the tailor shop snorted and huffed, and stared Nimue down as well. She could just as easily communicate with the Dark One with a look, a thought- tricks of practiced sorceresses. The dragon acknowledged that Nimue had a purpose here, and that she could accomplish unprecedented, wondrous things, given some time and space to herself, and the magic of these little isolated towns. She and Maleficent might actually have fun together, raising some hell. There was just the matter of Maleficent being marked.
And whose fault was that? Who brought about the marks of Charon?
The dragon and the original Dark One both narrowed their eyes and felt a very specific hatred burn in their hearts. Hatred for someone who murdered to cover up his lies, who killed for convenience and not for vengeance, passion or the pleasure of chaos. Even though Captain Hook claimed to be all about his revenge, he had put it off… for the calculated power moves of a cold-blooded snake. Maleficent figured that she didn't mind all the chaos of the Dark Ones, she didn't even mind taking leave of this world. In the afterlife, at least she'd be with Lily- but before she went- there was only one Dark One she really had something against. She worked up a plan.
Snow White and David wrote their will as they sang lullabies to Neal.
Gepetto and Pinocchio reminisced with Archie, who they had both grown up knowing as Jiminy Cricket, and struggled to say their goodbyes. Calls and emails were coming in rapidly, requesting custom locks, home security systems and booby traps from their little handyman operation.
"At least we can do this much to help people," Gepetto said to his strapping grown son. "Ah, but I wish that I were marked, in place of you!"
"Twenty-one of us were marked to lose our lives," Pinocchio said. "Surely there are more Dark Ones than that." He looked out the window of their crowded workshop, worrying that a resurrected Dark One may still come for his father. "What do the marked have in common? That we all cared about Emma, right?"
Archie cleaned his glasses and sighed. "I don't think you have to worry, Gepetto, at least not now. It seems at least one Dark One has… decided to spare you. That's the only explanation, since you should have been included, with people who cared about Emma. And, hey, someone has to be left to take care of Pongo!" The man who had once had the form of a cricket started to cry, as he again felt helpless and small. His large Dalmatian rubbed against him and licked his hand. The three friends touched their beers in a toast- to the Dark Ones who must have been merciful.
After arranging for Roland to be taken care of, and hearing from Henry's grandparents that he was spending his last day with them, Regina Mills wracked her brain over how to save the town this time. There had to be a self-destruct mechanism in Hook's Curse, just like there was when the evil Queen had cast hers- something that served as a failsafe for whenever Hook would tire of playing town and would want to end it all. She figured all the Dark Ones could be eliminated, just as soon as they got their new mortal lives- so could the darkness end, but after Regina and her friends and family die! But, finding a way to destroy the newly mortal Dark Ones with the Storybrookes, even after her own death? Even if she could, such a plan would take all the innocents with it! There was no way to get people out of harm's way… Regina couldn't believe how things had changed. Most her life, she wouldn't have considered anyone innocent or worth saving. But ever since a son came into her life...
Robin rejoined her by noon with sordid news. He'd found Zelena back at the farmhouse she'd claimed for herself, behind many a magical trap and blockade. He'd gotten through only because of the new mom's despair over being marked herself, by a monstrous wild talking boar come back from the dead. Somehow their baby girl was unharmed and unmarked after the Dark creature had run through Zelena, and she eventually let Robin inside to brainstorm with her.
"She didn't know what else to do," Robin told Regina, "but at least we know the Dark Ones aren't after our baby- for now. The babe's just learning to suckle, but she's going to have to adapt-" his girlfriend winced. Robin slowed down. "I... convinced her... to bring our daughter to the Fairies, rather than trusting her to the automation of enchanted broomsticks and bottles and nappies, that Zelena was trying to set up."
After leaning on each other with sighs of stress and exhaustion, after hugging and crying over the marks on their wrists, after making love like it would be the last time, Regina and Robin walked through each room of the mansion slowly.
"What will become of this... our life together, our home, our legacy…" Regina wondered. "I created this town, and now I... and everyone I love...will be ripped from it. I have no one to leave this to... no close friends I trust, who will actually keep their lives!
"I had a friend, once. Catherine. But I wasn't that much of a friend to her… And she got out of town while the getting was good."
"Well, the Merry Men don't need our books or fancy mirrors or glass decanter," Robin said. "If left to them, they would… yeah, they would probably pawn these things off somewhere and give the money to the poor..."
Robin pulled Regina in with a mischievous look. "Regina, there's something I have always wanted to do. We had that town fair the other week, and there was no, ah, parade...?"
Regina shook her head incredulously. "You want to have a parade before you die? What?"
Robin blushed and looked skyward. "Haven't you always wanted to throw treasure up into the air and make every body rich, if even just for a day? Haven't you ever wanted to wave to your adoring public in a celebrating procession?"
Regina had tried that when she was a proper Queen, but her public had not been adoring. Her dream catcher had showed her some vague memories of sparkling dresses and grateful public acknowledgement in Camelot, so maybe she had had some kind of joyous parade in her life, but never one in Storybrooke. She grinned at her idealistic, unorthodox partner.
"Maybe we should go out with a bang, maybe we should meet death with a proud flourish-and a one float parade."
"It would be a fun way for people to remember us!" Robin shrugged.
They borrowed a fire truck and emptied Regina's safe and bank account. They enlisted Maleficent's help driving the fire truck as Robin stood on the steps leading up the driver's side and Regina sat in the cab on the passenger side, wearing matching kerchiefs at their necks and drawing people's attention.
The lights flashed, the truck idled past homes and stores, and men, women and children cracked open their shutters and doors to see the mayor throwing out bills and waving to the confused citizens. With the honking of horns and blurting of sirens, the old-fashioned fire truck drew people out to follow it through the streets, bewildered and amazed by the money flying like confetti.
Maleficent sighed, "Regina, you could just leave your estate to the kids… you certainly don't have to pander to all THEM."
"Money is not what they need, in this world we're leaving them," the oddly carefree queen replied. She laughed, "Besides, Robin was right, this is more fun!"
She opened the door and stood on the steps on the side of the truck, hanging on with one hand and gesturing wide with the other. Throwing bills into the air, She shouted, "People of Storybrooke! I am no longer your mayor, no longer the Savior of your memories - no longer your Queen. I am just a proud woman going on to the next adventure! For those of you meeting your deaths tonight -death is just the next adventure! For those of you left behind with the Dark Ones- meet them face-to-face, with your heads held high! If the end is near, live the rest of your lives to the fullest, so it is a PROUD end!"
Robin Hood swung onto the hood of the old fire truck to look over at her, full of pride. More and more people were following behind them.
The parade made its way to gentleman's park in a strange foggy early twilight, all those with marked hands marching in it. Regina and Robin stared down the Dark visitors daringly, with heads held high.